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great learning was undertaken with zeal, if indeed anyone existed according to the given premise; but this man, according to the truth-loving author, is now here after so many teachers, showing off his wisdom, and first, as if coming from the Arabs and their practice of augury, the sparrow, what it might mean when calling the others to food, he interprets for those present, then, having foreseen a plague in Ephesus, he prophesies to the citizens. And he himself sets forth the reason for this in his defense before Domitian. For when he was asked from what starting point he had foretold this, he said, "Using a lighter diet, O king, I was the first to perceive the terrible thing." And he relates a third wonder of his to have occurred, how he indeed averted the plague, which, even if the author has certainly not placed it among the final accusations against him, because it was not possible for him, as is likely, to absolve himself of the charge through a defense, come now, let us nevertheless ourselves bring the story to light, thus also scrutinizing this. For if it should not be clear to someone that the fabrication is great and 391 deceptive and truly full of sorcery, the very manner of the story refutes it. For he suggests that the plague was seen in the form of a begging old man clothed in rags, whom, when Apollonius commanded them to stone, at first shot fire from its eyes, and then later, when struck with stones, appeared as a crushed dog, spitting out foam like those who are rabid, and he writes that he said these things about this also in his defense before the emperor Domitian: "For the form of the plague was like a poor old man, and I saw it and having seen it, I took it, not by stopping a disease, but by casting it out." Who then, upon hearing this, will not laugh heartily at the wonder-worker's production of paradoxes, hearing that the nature of the plague is a creature falling under eyes and the blows of stones and being crushed by men and spitting foam, which happens to be nothing other than a corruption and deterioration of the air, when the surrounding atmosphere turns towards the morbid, being constituted from wicked and foul exhalations, as medical science hands down? And in another way the phantom might be refuted, since the account says that the plague fell upon the city of the Ephesians alone, and not also on their neighbors, which how could it not have happened, had the surrounding atmosphere suffered corruption? For surely the disease, being shut in, would not have lain in wait for the air around Ephesus alone. A fourth marvel for him was the soul of Achilles, appearing by his own tomb, at first five cubits tall in a cloak, then twelve cubits in size, and accusing the Thessalians, because they were not performing the sacrifices for him, as was the custom, and still being wroth with the Trojans for the wrongs done to him and commanding Apol 392 lonius to ask five questions, which both he himself might wish and the Fates might allow. Then he who knows all things and boasts a foreknowledge of the future is still ignorant whether Achilles obtained a tomb and whether the laments of the Muses and Nereids were made over him, and about these things he asks and inquires of him, whether Polyxena was slain over him and whether Helen had come to Troy, as if these were solemn and urgent questions for the philosophical life of the hero and worthy of serious attention. And at these things he wonders, whether so many heroes were born among the Greeks at one time and whether Palamedes came to Troy. For the companion of gods both seen and unseen to be ignorant of such things, and to ask about such matters, of what shame would that not be? Unless, perhaps, since he is introduced as conversing with the dead, the author makes the inquiries rather frigid, so that he might dispel the suspicion that he seemed to have meddled in things beyond what is proper, and indeed he portrays him making a defense, that the manner of the vision that appeared to him was not according to necromancy, "for neither," he said, "having dug the pit of Odysseus, nor having summoned the soul with the blood of lambs, did I come into conversation with Achilles, but by praying

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διὰ σπουδῆς ἐπεχειρεῖτο πολυμάθεια, εἰ δή τις κατὰ τὴν δοθεῖσαν ὑπῆρξεν ὑπόθεσιν· ἀλλ' οὗτός γε κατὰ τὸν φιλαλήθη συγγραφέα νῦν δὴ πάρεστι μετὰ τοσούτους διδασκάλους τὴν σοφίαν ἐνεπιδεικνύμενος, καὶ πρῶτα μὲν οἷα ἐξ Ἀράβων καὶ τῆς παρ' αὐτοῖς οἰωνιστικῆς ὁρμώμενος τὸν στρουθόν, ὅ τι καὶ βούλοιτο τοὺς ἑτέρους ἐπὶ τροφὴν παρακαλῶν ἐφερμηνεύει τοῖς παροῦσιν, εἶτα δὲ λοιμοῦ ἐν Ἐφέσῳ προαισθόμενος προμαντεύεται τοῖς πολίταις. τὴν δ' αἰτίαν καὶ τούτου ἐν τῇ πρὸς ∆ομετιανὸν ἀπολογίᾳ αὐτὸς παρατίθεται. ἐρομένου γάρ τοι αὐτόν, ὁπόθεν ὁρμώμενος τοῦτο προείποι, «λεπτοτέρᾳ» ἔφη «χρώμενος, ὦ βασιλεῦ, διαίτῃ πρῶτος τοῦ δεινοῦ ᾐσθόμην.» καὶ τρίτον δ' αὐτοῦ θαῦμα γεγονὸς ἱστορεῖ, ὡς δὴ ἀλεξήσαντος τὸν λοιμόν, ὅπερ εἰ καὶ τὰ μάλιστα ἐν ταῖς ἐπὶ τέλει κατ' αὐτοῦ κατηγορίαις οὐ τέθεικεν ὁ συγγραφεύς, ὅτι μὴ παρῆν, ὡς εἰκός, αὐτῷ δι' ἀπολογίας ἀπολύσασθαι τὸ ἔγκλημα, φέρε δ' οὖν ὅμως αὐτοὶ τὴν ἱστορίαν ἐς φανερὸν ὑποθώμεθα, οὕτω δὴ καὶ ταύτην εὐθύνοντες. εἴ τινι γὰρ οὐκ ἂν εἴη σαφές, ὅτι δὴ πολὺ τὸ πλάσμα καὶ 391 ἀπατηλὸν γοητείας τε ὡς ἀληθῶς ἔμπλεων, αὐτὸς ὁ τρόπος ἀπελέγχει τῆς ἱστορίας. τὸν γάρ τοι λοιμὸν ὑποτίθεται ἐν εἴδει πτωχεύοντος καὶ ῥάκεσιν ἠμφιεσμένου πρεσβύτου ἀνδρὸς ἑωρᾶσθαι, ὃν καταλεύειν ἐπικελευσαμένου τοῦ Ἀπολλωνίου πρότερον μὲν πῦρ βάλλειν τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν, εἶθ' ὕστερον βληθέντα λίθοις κύνα συντετριμμένον καὶ παραπτύοντα ἀφρόν, ὡς οἱ λυττῶντες, φανῆναι, εἰρηκέναι δ' αὐτὸν περὶ τούτου καὶ ἐν τῇ πρὸς τὸν αὐτοκράτορα ∆ομετιανὸν ἀπολογίᾳ ταῦτα γράφει· «τὸ γὰρ τοῦ λοιμοῦ εἶδος, πτωχῷ δὲ γέροντι εἴκαστο, καὶ εἶδον καὶ ἰδὼν εἷλον οὐ παύσας νόσον, ἀλλ' ἐξελών.» τίς δὴ οὖν ἐπὶ τούτοις οὐ μέγα τὴν τοῦ θαυματοποιοῦ γελάσεται παραδοξοποιίαν ζῷον ὀφθαλμοῖς καὶ λίθων ὑποπῖπτον βολαῖς συντριβόμενόν τε πρὸς ἀνθρώπων καὶ ἀφρὸν παραπτῦον τὴν τοῦ λοιμοῦ φύσιν ἀκούων, ὃς οὐδ' ἄλλ' ὁτιοῦν τυγχάνει ἢ φθορὰ καὶ κάκωσις ἀέρος ἐπὶ τὸ νοσῶδες τρεπομένου τοῦ περιέχοντος ἐκ πονηρῶν τε καὶ φαύλων ἀναθυμιάσεων, ᾗ λόγος ἰατρικὸς παραδίδωσι, συνισταμένου; καὶ ἄλλως δ' ἂν τὸ φάσμα διευθυνθείη, ἐπείπερ μόνῃ τῇ τῶν Ἐφεσίων πόλει, ἀλλ' οὐχὶ καὶ τοῖς ὁμόροις τὸν λοιμὸν ἐπισκῆψαί φησιν ὁ λόγος, ὅπερ πῶς οὐκ ἂν γεγόνει κάκωσιν τοῦ περιέχοντος πεπονθότος; οὐ γὰρ δὴ κατακλεισθὲν μόνῳ ἂν ἐφήδρευσε τῷ περὶ τὴν Ἔφεσον ἀέρι τὸ νόσημα. τέταρτον αὐτῷ παράδοξον Ἀχιλλέως ἦν ψυχὴ πρότερον μὲν ἐν χλαμύδι πεντάπηχυς, εἶτα δωδεκάπηχυς τὸ μέγεθος παρὰ τῷ ἰδίῳ αὐτοῦ μνήματι φαινομένη Θετταλούς τε καταιτιωμένη, ὅτι δὴ τὰ ἐναγίσματα αὐτῷ, ὡς ἔθος ἦν, οὐκ ἐπετέλουν, μηνιῶσά τε εἰσέτι Τρωσὶ τῶν ἐς αὐτὸν πεπλημμελημένων καὶ προστάττουσα τῷ Ἀπολ 392 λωνίῳ πέντε λόγους, οὓς ἂν αὐτός τε βούλοιτο καὶ αἱ Μοῖραι συγχωροῖεν, ἀνερέσθαι. εἶθ' ὁ πάντα εἰδὼς καὶ τῶν μελλόντων πρόγνωσιν αὐχῶν ἔτι ἀγνοεῖ, εἰ τάφου τύχοι Ἀχιλλεὺς καὶ εἰ Μουσῶν θρῆνοι καὶ Νηρηίδων ἐπ' αὐτῷ γεγόνασι, καὶ περὶ τούτων αὐτὸν ἀνερωτᾷ καὶ διαπυνθάνεται, εἰ Πολυξένη ἐπισφαγείη αὐτῷ καὶ εἰ Ἑλένη ἐς Τροίαν ἐληλύθοι, ὡς σεμνά γε καὶ κατεπείγοντα εἰς τὸν φιλόσοφον βίον τοῦ ἥρωος καὶ σπουδῆς ἄξια ἐρωτήματα. θαυμάζει δ' ἐπὶ τούτοις, εἰ τοσοῦτοι ἥρωες παρὰ τοῖς Ἕλλησιν ἑνὶ χρόνῳ γεγόνασι καὶ εἰ ἀφίκετο ἐς Τροίαν Παλαμήδης. τὸν δὴ θεῶν ὁρωμένων τε καὶ οὐχ ὁρωμένων ὁμιλητὴν τοιαῦτα ἀγνοεῖν, καὶ περὶ τοιούτων ἀνερωτᾶν, ποίας οὐχὶ γένοιτ' ἂν αἰσχύνης; εἰ μὴ ἄρα, ἐπειδὴ νεκροῖς ὁμιλῶν εἰσῆκται, ἐπὶ τὸ ψυχρότερον μεταποιεῖ τὰς πεύσεις ὁ συγγραφεύς, ὡς ἂν ὑπεκλύσειε τὴν ὑπόνοιαν τοῦ πέρα τῶν προσηκόντων αὐτὸν περιειργάσθαι δοκεῖν, καὶ γὰρ δὴ καὶ ἀπολογούμενον αὐτὸν ὑπογράφει, ὅτι μὴ κατὰ νεκρομαντείαν ὁ τρόπος αὐτῷ τῆς φανείσης ὄψεως γένοιτο, «οὔτε γὰρ βόθρον» εἶπεν «Ὀδυσσέως ὀρυξάμενος, οὐδ' ἀρνῶν αἵμασι ψυχαγωγήσας, ἐς διάλεξιν τοῦ Ἀχιλλέως ἦλθον, ἀλλ' εὐξάμενος